Boardwalk Cafe finds new home

The Boardwalk Café has a new home in Pondera County after five decades in Boettcher Park in Polson.

Joelyn Fleisher and business partner Jim Slosher of the Conrad area purchased the building and relocated the business to Valier, “right on Lake Frances,” Fleisher said.

“It’s going to be good there. Every place needs an ice cream spot,” she added.

Fleisher said she found out the business was for sale through Facebook.

Former owner and Polson resident Tiecha Broussard said that the building and its equipment were sold to Fleisher for $10,000 after the city of Polson decided to construct their own concession building.

The city, she said, had considered purchasing the business, but later decided against it.

Broussard gave the city the option to purchase the business for $65,000.

Shrives said following city engineers assessing the business and its contents, it didn’t make financial sense to purchase the cafe.

Broussard said that she was not willing to publicly disclose how much she purchased the business for in 2013.

“I’m so glad we get to close the chapter in this book,” Broussard said.

Broussard, who owned the 50-year-old eatery since 2013, claimed she received a notice Jan. 4 stating she had until April 1 to remove the building, its contents and “all improvements” from the park.

In a memo citing reasons for the city’s non-renewal of a lease agreement with Broussard, Parks Manager Pat Nowlen listed that he and City Manager Mark Shrives began reviewing lease contracts throughout the city and they “discovered” the lease agreement regarding The Boardwalk Cafe “had many flaws” and was not compliant with city law, policies or ordinances.

To fill the empty space at the park, Shrives said that the city is in infancy stages of having a new business in time for summer.